Scottish Government claims that cutting corporation tax in an independent Scotland would boost jobs and economic growth have been branded “highly speculative” by an economic think-tank.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) claimed that any estimate of the impact of cutting the levy so it is three percentage points lower than the rest of the UK, as the SNP have pledged to do, required “strong assumptions and a large dose of guesswork”.
First Minister Alex Salmond has already said reducing corporation tax would create 27,000 jobs and an increase in GDP by more than 1% over the medium term.
The IFS concluded if Scotland were to leave the UK, it could face fiscal pressures at least as strong as the rest of the UK and may want to consider increasing taxes.
